Brainwaves are measured in “Hertz” – which just means cycles per second. When you’re feeling anxiety, your brain waves are really fast. When you relax, they slow down. When you sleep, they’re even slower.

Pretend you’re really stressed. Maybe you don’t have to pretend. If you could peek inside your head with an electroencephalograph (EEG) you’d see that your brain is firing off 30, 40 or up to 100 electrical impulses per second. Telling yourself to relax seldom helps. Telling an anxious brain to relax is like trying to catch a whirling dervish.

But if you put on music that has beats at 10 Hertz, your brain will begin to follow along, and reproduce the rhythm of the music you’re listening to. Your brain waves will slow down to match the music you’re listening to and will help you relax. It works every time, and it’s called brain entrainment.

The opposite works, too. You know those times when you just can’t seem to get motivated? Or when you’re trying to focus, but it’s just not happening? Or you’re suffering writer’s block? Or creativity seems to elude you? Brain waves. Those things happen when your brainwaves aren’t doing what you want them to be doing. Brain entrainment can help.

There are many methods of brain entrainment. You can use sophisticated light emissions to change your brainwaves. Food (taste) and scent can change your brainwaves, too. Comfort food, anyone? But music is just so easy. Put on headphones and 14 minutes later you’ve literally altered your state of mind.

Brain entrainment music uses ambient music or nature sounds embedded with the beats that will entrain your mind to the frequency you want to be at. So you can focus. Or relax. Or sleep. People who meditate using brain entrainment music can go into relaxing Alpha brainwaves at will. Put on the headphones and close your eyes. It doesn’t really get much easier than that, does it?

Brain entrainment is not just for relaxing. It is also used to stimulate your mind. Help you wake up when you’re fuzzy minded. Help inspire creative thought. Brain entrainment can help you study better, learn better and work more efficiently.